It is time to take back Rancho Bernardo Community Park, Brent King says.

It’s time, though it will be difficult for his family to move beyond what happened there three years ago.

“What we want is to be able to go there and see a community enjoying the park again,” said King, the father of Chelsea King.

On May 19, the Chelsea’s Light Foundation will host a huge single-day baseball tournament at fields throughout the county.

The main fields will be at Rancho Bernardo Community Park, where a “Take Back the Park” celebration will be held from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and will feature live bands, giveaways, raffle prizes, food, vendors and activities.

It was at that park where 17-year-old Chelsea was abducted and killed while on a cross-country training run along the paths near Lake Hodges. The park was the site of a massive search for five days before Chelsea’s body was found in a shallow grave.

A convicted sex offender was arrested even before the discovery and is now serving two life sentences without the possibility of parole for the murders of Chelsea and of 14-year-old Amber Dubois, whom he abducted a year earlier in Escondido.

“We’ve hosted this baseball tournament the last few years, and it’s grown now into the biggest one-day tournament in Southern California,” King said.

“The reason we picked baseball is that’s what (son) Tyler and Chelsea did together. Chelsea would truly attend every one of Ty’s games, and he could walk a batter in four pitches, and she would stand up and cheer and say ‘Don’t worry Ty, you’ll get the next one.’”

King said that this year he and his wife, Kelly, decided to make the park the center of the event.

“We did this based on Ty and Chelsea’s love for baseball, and we’ve decided to make this the tool to really bring that park back to Rancho Bernardo — back to the community. We want to try and bring positive memories to this park.”

King said he’s not sure Kelly and he will attend.

“It’s a big one,” he said. “I’m not sure we can do that, but I think we can because of the energy that’s going to be there.”

The foundation has teamed up with Super Series West, San Diego Show Baseball, Southern California Little Leagues, and PONY Baseball to organize the tournament at eight groups of fields.

Last year, more than 1,500 student athletes and more than 140 teams played, and more are expected this time.

Registration is open through Friday and can be completed online at
chelseaslight.org.

“It’s unheard of for a youth baseball tournament to come together on this scale with a singular focus, but Chelsea King and her family have inspired each of us to use our passion for baseball to unite the baseball community and remind ourselves that we can each make a difference,” Bill Reh, volunteer co-chairman of Home Run for Chelsea, said in a news release.